A comparative morphological study between tomato plant and plantlets cv. MT1

Tomato Lycopersicon esculentum is a member of the Solanaceae family. Most of the studies on micropropagation of tomato used stem, hypocotyl, leaf disc and cotyledon as the explant instead of young shoot apical meristem (SAM). Therefore, the suitability of young SAM as explant to regenerate tomato plant in vitro was studied. SAM was isolated from 6-days-old germinating tomato seedling and was then inoculated into liquid MS medium supplemented with different concentrations of Indole Acetic Acid (IAA) and Kinetin (KIN) respectively and a combination of both hormones in the ranges of 0.1-0.2 mg/l while semi-solid MS medium alone served as control. Results showed that SAM was able to regenerate to an entire plant in all treatments. However, the best treatment was semi-solid MS medium supplemented with combination of 0.05 mg/L IAA + 0.1 mg/L KIN with an average plant height (4.6 cm), number of leaves (9) and number of roots (7). Our findings also indicated that the morphology of all tomato plantlets were almost similar with tomato plant. Therefore, it was concluded that SAM serves as a suitable explant that can regenerate true plantlets

Review on some plants’ therapeutic effects against gastrointestinal microbes

Plants play vital roles in many health care systems, be it rural or an urban community. Plants became familiar as medicine due to the primordial ideologies and believed. Several plant parts served as medicines to so many ailments including gastrointestinal ailments, due to the fact that their active ingredients are powerful against the microbes as well as healing so many physiological abnormalities. The principal antimicrobial components were used to inhibit the growth of microbes (S. aureus, E. coli, Salmonella spp, B. cereus, and B. subtili,), as well as most of the recognized compounds in most plants were aromatic or saturated organic compounds which enabled the plants to be active against the gastrointestinal microbes. The commonly used diluents were; water, methanol and Di methyl sulphate oxides to ascertain the level of activity of the plants. As such, plant materials in one way or the other are very active when dealing with microbes due to their active ingredients or the phytoconstituents. Most of the microbes identified in many reviewed researches were enteric bacterial species, by which divided into both gram negative and gram positive bacterial isolates, they differ in their cell components, which are the main targets of bioactive constituents to deal with any bacteria. However, certain parasites contributed towards the production of ailments for their survival and causing havoc to the hosts and sometimes be mutualistic

Regulation of p53-, Bcl-2- and Caspase-dependent Signaling Pathway in Xanthorrhizol-induced Apoptosis of HepG2 Hepatoma Cells

Xanthorrhizol is a sesquiterpenoid compound extracted from the rhizome of Curcuma xanthorrhiza. This study investigated the antiproliferative effect and the mechanism of action of xanthorrhizol on human hepatoma cells, HepG2, and the mode of cell death. An antiproliferative assay using methylene blue staining revealed that xanthorrhizol inhibited the proliferation of the HepG2 cells with a 50% inhibition of cell growth (IC50) value of 4.17±0.053 μg/ml. The antiproliferative activity of xanthorrhizol was due to apoptosis induced in the HepG2 cells and not necrosis, which was confirmed by the Tdt-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay. The xanthorrhizol-treated HepG2 cells showed typical apoptotic morphology such as DNA fragmentation, cell shrinkage and elongated lamellipodia. The apoptosis mediated by xanthorrhizol in the HepG2 cells was associated with the activation of tumor suppressor p53 and down-regulation of antiapoptotic Bcl-2 protein expression, but not Bax. The levels of Bcl-2 protein expression decreased 24-h after treatment with xanthorrhizol and remained lower than controls throughout the experiment, resulting in a shift in the Bax to Bcl-2 ratio thus favouring apoptosis. The processing of the initiator procaspase-9 was detected. Caspase-3 was also found to be activated, but not caspase-7. Xanthorrhizol exerts antiproliferative effects on HepG2 cells by inducing apoptosis via the mitochondrial pathway

An improved artificial neural network based model for prediction of late onset heart failure

Background and Objective: The present study aims to present an artificial neural network (ANN)-based model for prediction of Late Onset Heart Failure (LOHF) in patients, with no previous Heart Failure (HF) history, who experienced non-fatal, first-ever Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) without previous history of heart failure. Methods: Two models of multilayer perceptron (MLP) and Radial Basis Function (RBF) neural network approaches based on decision support system were developed. The MLP model was used to optimize the predicting algorithm based on the conjugate gradients descent method. To design the RBF network, K-Means clustering technique was used to select the centers of RBFs, and k-nearest neighbourhood to define the spread and forward selection for determining the optimum number of RBFs. To assess the generalization of the network, K-fold cross-validation test was used. A total of 3,109 medical records containing 19 main clinical parameters were used to train and test the networks. Results: The findings indicate a reliable performance of the proposed system. The MLP based model yields a sensitivity, specificity, and an area under the receiver/relative operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) of 87.1%, 90%, and 0.887 ± 0.02, respectively. However, the RBF network shows the above parameters as 84.4%, 94.3%, and 0.905 ± 0.017, respectively. Conclusions: The proposed intelligence system achieved a high degree of diagnostic accuracy (92.9% for MLP and 93.7% for RBF) indicating its high efficiency for clinical diagnosis of LOHF

Factors influencing malaria knowledge, attitude and practice in Gwagwalada

Malaria epidemics are widespread in the tropics. Studies showed that malaria mitigation depends on case management, vector control and use of preventive measures. However, knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) regarding malaria are paramount in the mitigation campaign which has not been given relevance in Sub-Sahara Africa. This study explores factors influencing KAP regarding malaria in Gwagwalada. A cross-sectional survey was done in four different sites in Gwagwalada between March and September 2016. A structured validated questionnaire was used to obtain information from 384 respondents. There was a statistical comparison of the KAP among the different sites. Majority of participants had heard about malaria (99.3%) but only 20% had good knowledge and 14.4% have good practice scores. There was no significant difference in the KAP scores of the four different sites examined. Of the selected socio-demographic predictors, occupation and education of participants were significantly different for attitude scores, while age and occupation were associated with knowledge scores. Only marital status was significant with good practice. The study found increased odds of good knowledge if the participants worked with the government (OR:1.34; .95CI:0.50,3.48) and decreased in odds of having good knowledge if the participants were older than 47 years (OR:0.98; 0.95CI:0.34,3.17). At multivariate level, only respondent’s education significantly predicts attitude level (P <0.05) while age and occupation were independent predictors of level of knowledge. Age and education are key determinant factors of malaria KAP in the study area. Therefore, health education should target people with lower education and older age at community level

Hypolipidemic activities of xanthorrhizol purified from centrifugal TLC

Hyperlipidemia is defined as the presence of either hypertriglyceridemia or hypercholesterolemia, which could cause atherosclerosis. Although hyperlipidemia can be treated by hypolipidemic drugs, they are limited due to lack of effectiveness and safety. Previous studies demonstrated that xanthorrhizol (XNT) isolated from Curcuma xanthorrhizza Roxb. reduced the levels of free fatty acid and triglyceride in vivo. However, its ability to inhibit cholesterol uptake in HT29 colon cells and adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 cells are yet to be reported. In this study, XNT purified from centrifugal TLC demonstrated 98.3% purity, indicating it could be an alternative purification method. The IC50 values of XNT were 30.81 ± 0.78 μg/mL in HT29 cells and 35.07 ± 0.24 μg/mL in 3T3-L1 adipocytes, respectively. Cholesterol uptake inhibition study using HT29 colon cells showed that XNT (15 μg/mL) significantly inhibited the fluorescent cholesterol analogue NBD uptake by up to 27 ± 3.1% relative to control. On the other hand, higher concentration of XNT (50 μg/mL) significantly suppressed the growth of 3T3-L1 adipocytes (5.9 ± 0.58%) compared to 3T3-L1 preadipocytes (81.31 ± 0.55%). XNT was found to impede adipogenesis of 3T3-L1 adipocytes in a dose-dependent manner from 3.125 to 12.5 μg/mL, where 12.5 μg/mL significantly suppressed 36.13 ± 2.1% of lipid accumulation. We postulate that inhibition of cholesterol uptake, adipogenesis, preadipocyte and adipocyte number may be utilized as treatment modalities to reduce the prevalence of lipidemia. To conclude, XNT could be a potential hypolipidemic agent to improve cardiovascular health in the future

Xanthorrhizol inhibits cell proliferation, cellular cholesterol uptake in HT29 colon cells and adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 adipocytes

Hyperlipidemia is defined as the presence of either hypertriglyceridemia or hypercholesterolemia, which could cause atherosclerosis, cardiovascular diseases and certain cancers. Although hyperlipidemia can be treated by hypolipidemic drugs, they are limited due to lack of effectiveness and safety. Since flavonoids and tannins have been reported to possess antihyperlipidemic activity, it is believed that phytochemicals isolated from plants may decrease the lipid levels with lower side effects. Previous studies demonstrated that xanthorrhizol (XNT) isolated from Curcuma xanthorrhizza reduced the levels of free fatty acid and triglyceride in vivo. However, antiproliferative activity of XNT and its ability to inhibit cholesterol uptake and adipogenesis are yet to be reported. In this study, the IC50 values of XNT were 15.12 ± 0.68 μg/mL in HT29 cells and 35.07 ± 0.24 μg/mL in 3T3-L1 adipocytes, respectively. Cholesterol uptake inhibition study was conducted in HT29 colon cells using fluorescent cholesterol analogue NBD. The result showed that XNT (15 μg/mL) siginificantly inhibited the cholesterol uptake by up to 37.6 ± 1.53 % relative to control. On the other hand, higher concentration of XNT (50 μg/mL) significantly suppressed the growth of 3T3-L1 adipocytes (5.9 ± 0.58 %) compared to 3T3-L1 preadipocytes (80.42 ± 8.29 %). It was found that XNT (3.125 μg/mL) impeded adipogenesis by reducing lipid content of 3T3-L1 adipocytes for 25.37 ± 3.24 % comparable to positive control (quercetin), 20.07 ± 8.78%. We postulate that inhibition of cholesterol uptake, adipocyte number and adipogenesis may be utilized as treatment modalities to reduce the prevalence of lipidemia. To conclude, XNT could be a potential hypolipidemic agent and further studies could be done on its mechanism of action

Human health risks of heavy metals in okra (Abelmochus esculentus) and lettuce (Lactuta sativa) collected from selected farms in Peninsular Malaysia

The present study investigated the concentrations of Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb and Zn in fruit okra (Abelmochus esculentus) and leafy lettuce (Lactuta sativa) collected from selected farms in Peninsular Malaysia, based on cited and unpublished data. For the leafy lettuce, the metal concentrations (mg/kg dry weight) were 1.18-13.9 for Ni, 1.67-24.7 for Cu, 19.0-120 for Zn, 0.20-2.12 for Pb and 71.5-306 for Fe. For the fruit okra, the metal concentrations (mg/kg dry weight) were 1.19-14.4 for Ni, 5.93-20.2 for Cu, 23.7-123 for Zn, 0.01-2.21 for Pb and 43.9-172 for Fe. To estimate the human health risk assessment, all values of target hazard quotient for the 5 metals in the adults of Malaysian population were found below 1.00. This showed that there was no non-carcinogenic risk of the 5 metals via the consumption of okra and lettuce from the present study. Still, it is highly recommended that frequent monitoring of toxic chemicals besides heavy metals should be carried out for possible chemical contamination in the edible vegetables in Malaysia

Dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP IV) inhibitory activity screening of Momordica charantia, Taraxacum officinale and Trigonella foenum-graecumextracts in vitro

Diabetes, a globally popular disease which attracted the attention of many researches worldwide to discover a non-toxic and side effect free remedy for this disease. Inhibition of DPP IV enzymes has been adopted as one of the strategies in recent years in controlling diabetes. DPP IV inhibitor inhibits the dipeptidyl peptidase enzyme which degrades several incretin hormones that are vital in the production of insulin and managing the blood glucose level.Thus, the present study was designed to investigate the DPP IV inhibitory effects of plants having antidiabetic property. In vitro DPP IV inhibition was evaluated by the specific inhibitory activity of Momordica charantia (whole fruit), Taraxacum officinale (whole plant) and Trigonella foenum-graecum (seed) extracts prepared with heat treatment using petroleum ether, acetone, ethanol and water as solvents. Among the tested plants T. officinale and M. charantia acetone extracts exhibited strong DPP IV activity inhibition, with 78.88% and 54.13% respectively. The present study is the first report on screening of DPP IV inhibitory activity of T. officinale, M. charantiaand T. foenum-graecum extracts. This could provide a new insight into DPP IV inhibitors from plants that could be useful for treatment of type 2 diabetes

Xanthorrhizol: a review of its pharmacological activities and anticancer properties

Xanthorrhizol (XNT) is a bisabolane-type sesquiterpenoid compound extracted from Curcuma xanthorrhiza Roxb. It has been well established to possess a variety of biological activities such as anticancer, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antihyperglycemic, antihypertensive, antiplatelet, nephroprotective, hepatoprotective, estrogenic and anti-estrogenic effects. Since many synthetic drugs possess toxic side effects and are unable to support the increasing prevalence of disease, there is significant interest in developing natural product as new therapeutics. XNT is a very potent natural bioactive compound that could fulfil the current need for new drug discovery. Despite its importance, a comprehensive review of XNT’s pharmacological activities has not been published in the scientific literature to date. Here, the present review aims to summarize the available information in this area, focus on its anticancer properties and indicate the current status of the research. This helps to facilitate the understanding of XNT’s pharmacological role in drug discovery, thus suggesting areas where further research is required